My five: Mervin Lourdu Raj

I have watched this film directed by Sergio Leone atleast 30 times. Clint Eastwood’s epic act turned a little-known actor into an international star. It is the story of three adventurers the good (Clint Eastwood), the bad (Lee Van Cleef) and the ugly (Eli Wallach), chasing the same treasury graveyard. Throughout the film Leone created some fine shots and the extreme close-ups are impressive to this day. The music of Ennio Morricone is magnificent.

Incendies

Incendies is a Canadian mysterious drama directed by Denis Villeneuve that tells the powerful and emotional tale of the voyage of two young adults to uncover the truth of their mother’s secret. An incredibly well-made movie Villeneuve knows how to use the language of cinema to craft a story. It has all the elements that a film needs to become memorable and touching.

Amélie

Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Amélie is an extraordinary, enchanting, endearing and artistic, French, rom-com. Amélie Poulain (played by Audrey Tautou), is a shy waitress struggling with her own isolation. Her journey to find true meaning, love and happiness paired with a good soundtrack, art direction and cinematography weaves absolute magic.

The Colour of Paradise

Art, beauty, poetry, love and loss are part of Majid Majidi’s thought-provoking film. The movie revolves around a young Iranian boy, who is visually-impaired and heads home for his vacations where his sisters and grandmother await him to show the world. However, his father is ashamed of his son’s blindness and plans to send him away. Will he realise how precious his son is?

Schindler’s List

Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List is “a fable rather than a movie”. Set against the backdrop of the darker days of the 20th Century, it unveils the incredible act of Oskar Schindler, a war profiteer and industrialist who spent his fortune and risked his life to save over a thousand Jews from the Nazis. The movie is fully crafted in black and white with only one little girl in a red coat symbolising the death of many innocents. It is a heart-breaking story, told with honesty.

Those that almost made it

Raging Bull: Martin Scorsese

Shawshank Redemption: Frank Darabont

Citizen Kane: Orson Welles

The Prestige: Christopher Nolan

Roman Holiday: William Wyler

Mervin Lourdu Raj is currently studying French at the Alliance Française of Madras and is an inveterate world cinema, film noir and Western films aficionado.